Sensory Rice

I am kinda of obsessed with making sensory boxes.  My mind has been spinning all weekend with all the different boxes I can make.  These are the reasons:

1.  The little people love them

2. I enjoy making the little people happy.

3. My classroom is quiet when they are playing with them.

4.  Hubby and I get to go hunting for different things to put in the boxes - which always

includes lunch together after.

This is how I dye my rice for my containers.  There are a lot of different ways, but this is what works for me.

Gather all your supplies.

You will need a measuring cup, measuring spoons, a gallon ziploc bag, food color paste, rubbing alcohol, bowl, 2 - 5 lb bags of white rice (cheap is good), paper towels and cookie sheets or baking pans (for drying).

Take the ziploc bag and put it inside a big bowl.   A 5 pound bag has about 10 cups - so I just pull out 2 cups and set aside (I will use this later).  Then, I add the rest of the rice bag, about 8 cups, to the ziploc bag.

**Do not put all 5 pounds of rice in the gallon ziploc bag.  It fits, but you can't mix it.  I tried, lol.  You could use a bigger bag, but I didn't want to go to the store.

To the rice, I add 3 Tablespoons of rubbing alcohol and 30 drops of food coloring liquid paste (this will give it a nice rich color).  You can always add more if you want the rice to be darker. 

Close the bag and smoosh it all around- turn the bag.  

When you get it all mixed together - leave it sit for about 10 minutes, so the color soaks in a little.

Lay paper towels in your drying container and dump the rice in.  I use about 4 to 5 containers for all the rice.  You don't want the rice layer to be to thick.  It will dry faster.  The weather in California has been so nice, so I set mine outside for a couple of hours to dry.  You can dry them overnight inside too.

Repeat, all the steps again for the other 5 pound bag.

My big container fits 2 batches nicely.  It is enough to cover the bottom, but not too much that it escapes from the box, when the babes are playing with it.

To dye the other 4 cups of rice,  I added 1 Tablespoon of rubbing alcohol and 12 drops of color.  I am going to use this smaller batch in a smaller container and make it a color box.  So, I would add all sorts of blue things that I can find around the house, at school or from new purchases.  I want to make it an "I Spy Color Box".

Hubby and I went shopping at the Dollar Tree today for goodies.  I think he had as much fun as I did.  There are about 5 different box ideas in this picture.  Of course, we had lunch after.  I love  3 day weekends.